The Office wedding Q&A with Mindy Kaling

Q. I live in Niagara Falls, so it was pretty awesome to see it featured on my favorite show. How much did you guys shoot during your time there and how did you enjoy your stay? | jimbo slice

Mindy: We loved Niagara! So many buffalo wings. We shot that sequence six times, and each time with wildly different weather.

We have a take where John and Jenna are soaked through and through, which is romantic in a different “The Notebook” kind of way. Very cinematic.

Q. I’m wondering if you chose Niagara as a location for the wedding simply because there was a romantic boat close by … It’s such a clever callback to Booze Cruise. | LizzyB

Mindy: Greg wrote Booze Cruise and chose Niagara. I thought it was so fitting and unpredictable, but who knows how thought-out it was. Greg’s a genius.

I wanted to find out for sure how early he had this in mind, and if it was a callback, but he’s not answering my texts. Evil genius.

Q. How did Jim and Pam manage to stay dry after visiting the falls! | DV

Mindy: They didn’t stay dry — and John was sick. What a guy!

from tanster: i asked hair department head, Kim, for more details on the Niagara scene, and here is what she had to say:

Kim (department head, hair): We had a big meeting, the director, producers, Mindy, myself, LaVerne (Dept. Head Makeup), and wardrobe. We all decided that we would go out on the boat … four times in a row.

There would be NO drying in between takes. We would hopefully get what we needed; if we did not, then we were breaking for lunch after the four runs, go back to our hotel, have lunch, redo John and Jenna from scratch, then go back down to the Maid of the Mist and do four more runs at it. Basically until sunset, that was our plan.

And the funny part is, during every dry run BEFORE the actors rode the boat, no one ever got that wet.

Then of course when the cast did the first run … whooosh! Soaked!

We simply did a quick dry off with towels … I tried to “redo” Jenna’s hair a little, and then we went out again … never leaving the boat.

We had no power so I could not use a dryer. We had fun though!

Q. Did you have to reserve the whole boat in order to film the secret wedding? | Chappa

Mindy: The Maid of the Mist was lovely enough to let us shoot, but didn’t want to turn tourists away from taking the trip, so there were tons of actual visitors on the boat who just happened to get an eyeful of the nuptials! They were awesome, not leaking footage or pics online.

Jenna also had the great idea to talk to the crowd and asked them politely and with her usual sweetness to not upload spoilery stuff online. They were totally charmed by her — then I told them how terrible and mean she is, and they loved me instead.

Q. Was the boat captain who married Jim and Pam was an actor or a genuine Maid of the Mist captain? | Missy

Mindy: Our boat captain was played by Randy Cordray, our beloved line producer. He did a great job. He’s available to officiate your Office-themed wedding if you want. Just drop me a line.

Randy (The Office line producer): Yup … ’twas me! It was an awesome experience. I was extremely flattered to be a part of it.

Heehee Dward! The sound of that makes Ed Helms seem even more adorable. John Krasinski breaking? Not surprising, but definitely always a treat; in fact, I hope it’s one of his man-squeal breaks cuz those are the best. :) Also, Greg Daniels giggling – ’nuff said.

Very cool Q&A! Thank you muchly, tanster & Mindy Kaling for your time & just for being downright awesome!

It’s so nice of Mindy to do this, especially in her free time on set. I hope the actual vows are on the DVD extra too. It almost seems like too much of a good thing though. Thanks so much Mindy & Office Tally!

@13, i love her more! :) so clever. i’m a big fan of her shopping blog, “things that i bought that i love”, and have used it to buy some great presents for people. how fun to tell them where i got the idea! wish she’d write more often, though (come on mindy, the holidays are comin’ up!)

i can’t get enough of these q&a’s, it’s SO neat to hear the stories behind the episodes. thanks to both of these awesome ladies! keep ’em comin’!